The premature disclosure has caused problems for investigators, according to numerous law enforcement officials speaking on the condition of anonymity because the probe is ongoing.
"This has severely hampered their investigation," one law enforcement official said. "It's impossible to tell what might have been lost because of all this."
Defense Undersecretary Douglas J. Feith was among officials the FBI spoke to.
(Frank Johnston -- The Washington Post)
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An Israeli official in Washington said the embassy has not received any formal notice from U.S. authorities that there is an investigation of the Franklin case. He also said reports of the case were growing increasingly exaggerated.
"Given the level of dialogue between the United States and Israel, this makes little sense," the official said. "We basically pick up the phone and call when we want to discuss policy. We have formal and transparent and open discussions on all these issues. It's not like there are differences on these subjects."
Naor Gilon, the embassy's top political diplomat, who has been identified in several media accounts as having met with Franklin, said in an interview with the Israeli newspaper Maariv published yesterday, "My hands are clean."
"All my activities are well within the parameters of accepted diplomatic norms and procedures," he said, adding that he was concerned the scandal will affect his work in Washington: "Everyone would think twice now before talking to me."
In Jerusalem yesterday, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom told members of the Israeli cabinet that there was no truth to allegations of spying and said the embassy "never deviated either from diplomatic norms or from the good and open dialogue between Israel and the U.S.," according to an official account of his statements.
An American not in government who was interviewed by the FBI last week described the line of questioning as a "fishing expedition" that did not include any mention of Franklin or Iran.
The FBI appeared more concerned about people this person knows who were looking for access to intelligence or classified information.
"I was left startled that in a town of award-winning journalists, law enforcement officials were asking if anyone I knew might be interested in classified information," the person said. "It was a fishing expedition. It was an extremely odd conversation."
Staff writers Molly Moore in Jerusalem and Robin Wright and Jerry Markon in Washington contributed to this report.
